Wire line shooting tool



Jan. 2, 1940. M. M. KINLEY WIRE LINE SHOOTING TOOL Filed July 1, 1938 Zlwuonfm LEY.

( Um W130.

em mfSQQMDe MPLKIN Patented Jan. 2, 1940 UNITE 11 Claims.

The invention relates to a tool for cutting wire lines at inaccessible points, such as at a submerged elevation in a well bore.

In well drilling and other operations a tool or 5 piece of equipment may be manipulated by the movement of a flexible line or cable and, in some instances, such tool or piece of equipment may become lodged in position so that it is impossible to retrieve it by pulling upon the wire line and it becomes necessary to sever the line at an inaccessible point so that the line may be salvaged and some other type of fishing tool inserted to recover the piece of equipment.

Cutting tools of this general type are known [5, but it is understood that all of such tools must be, in turn, manipulated by a flexible line or cable or by connection to a string of pipe and it is, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention to provide a tool which can be placed about the line which is to be cut and the cutting operation performed by the cutting tool at the desired elevation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tool which may be passed about a wire line and then dropped so that it will fall by gravity to the 25 point where the cut is to be made.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shooting-off tool for wire lines.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cutter for wire lines wherein the line being cut is gripped by the tool above the elevation of the cut so that the tool may be retrieved along ith the wire line.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a tool which will grip and cut a wire line in a single operation,

Other and further objects of the invention will be readily apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of the tool arranged about the wire line and in position to move along the line to the elevation where the out is to be made.

4 Figure 2 is a vertical sectional View of the tool after it has gripped the wire and performed the cutting operation.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the lower part of the body of the tool.

Figure 4 is a section taken on the line 4- 1 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5-01? Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

In Figure 1 the flexible line which is to be severed is illustrated generally at 2. This line may be a wire cable or other flexible line which is to be cut at an inaccessible elevation.

The tool itself includes the body 3 which is made up of the housing 4 which is best seen in elevation in Figure 2. This housing is made of two complementary parts or halves which are substantially semicircular in cross section. Each half is provided with a longitudinal groove 6 so that when the two halves are assembled and held together by the bolts 8 an opening 1 will be formed which is arranged to receive the wire line 2.

Extending diagonally across the groove 1 is a slot 9, which slot extends to the opposite side of the section I0 of the housing 2. This slot is arranged to receive the gripper or clamping blade H, which is freely slidable in the slot. The forward end of this blade I I is rounded at l2 so that it will bear against the wire line and force the line against the outside surface of the passage 1 as best seen in Figure 2.

The rear portion of the blade H is provided with a corner l3 against which the actuating plunger hi is arranged to engage. This plunger 14 has an inclined face [5 which will slide along the corner I3 and cause the blade to move downwardly in the slot as seen in Figure 2. When the plunger has moved to the position of Figure 2 the flexible line will be securely gripped by the tool so that the tool is afiixed to the line so long as the plunger l i remains in position of Figure 2.

Another slot 20 is also provided in the housing 4 and is similar to the slot 9. This slot, however, carries a cutter blade 2! which has a sharp cutting edge 22 on the forward face. A rounded corner 23 on the heel of the blade is also arranged to be engaged by the inclined face 15 of the plunger [4 so that, as the plunger M continues its movement after it has passed the gripper blade II it will then cause the cutter blade 2! to move across the passage l and sever the wire line as seen in Figure 2. Thus, it will be observed that the line is cut at an elevation directly below the point where it is gripped by the tool. After the cut has been negotiated, the tool can be retrieved along with the wire line 2 and no separate, additional or independent wire line or string of pipe need be used to manipulate the cutter tool.

The plunger Id travels in the cylindrical bore 25, which is also formed in the housing 4. A stop shoulder 26 prevents the plunger M from passing out the bottom of this bore.

The halves of the housing 4 are threaded as at 30 so that a sleeve or nipple 3| may be passed thereover' and threaded on to the upper portion of the housing. This sleeve 3! is in turn connected to the cylinder 33 which has a bore 34 therein. Disposed in the bore 34 is a mandrel 35 which is normally supported in the bore 34 by means of a frangible disk or plate 38 which is positioned between the connection of the sleeve 3| and the cylinder 33. The screws 23 may hold the blades away from the wire line until they are struck by the plunger [4.

It will be noted from Figure 1 that the plunger I4 is of such a length that it leaves a substantial space below the disk 36. Thus, as the mandrel 35 moves downwardly to rupture the disk, it will be thrown against the top of the plunger i lwith considerable force and the sharp stroke administered in this manner tends to drive the plunger i l downwardly to actuate the gripper and cutter blades.

In order to drive the mandrel 35 sharply against the plunger I l the upper end thereof is recessed at 3i and, as seen in Figure 1, is disposed closely adjacent an explosive cartridge 38 such as a shotgun shell. This cartridge is firmly held in the chamber 39 by means of the firing plug 46]. The firing plug carries a firing pin 4| which is supported on the stem 42, which is, in turn, slidab-ly and rotatably mounted in the cap 43.

The stem 42 carries the guide yoke 35 which supports a roller 416 at the ends of the legs thereof so that the wire line 2 may be passed through the opening ll in the yoke. A spring pressed detent 49 may be positioned on the underside of the yoke 45 so as to restrict but not prevent its rotating movement. This detent also serves to hold the firing pin 4! in elevated position ready to fire the cartridge 38.

The detent 49 may be so arranged that when the tool lands at the elevation where the cut is to be made the inertia of the stem 52 and the yoke 45 will be such that it will compress the detent and cause firing of the shell. On the other hand, this detent may be of suflicient strength to resist the sliding movement of the stem and yoke when the tool lands and a weight or nipple 58] can be passed about the wire line 2 and dropped on to the shooting tool so as to drive the firing pin sharply against the cartridge 38. This latter method of firing the tool is the most satisfactory because the operator is then sure that the tool is at the right elevation before he drops the weight 50, whereas, if the tool were droppingat a considerable rate of speed and he suddenly encountered some obstruction, it might be fired and cut off the wire line at the wrong point.

It seems obvious that the tool can be assembled about the wire line by positioning the sections Hi about the line and then assembling the tool. The top of the tool is guided by the yoke 45 and the tool can then be dropped so that it will fall by gravity to the desired elevation where the cut is to be made. No separate wire line or string of pipe is required to manipulate the cutting tool and just prior to the negotiation of the cut the tool is afiixed tothe wire line by the gripper blade II so that the tool can be retrieved with the wire line after it is cut. This feature of having a tool which needs no independent equipment for its manipulation or operation is one of the essential features of the invention along with the combination grip-per and cutter blades.

What is claimed is:

1. A shooting off tool for wire lines comprising a body, an opening therein for a wire line, means to move into said opening to grip the wire line and hold it in said body, means to shear the wire line below the point of gripping of said line, and means movable to actuate both of said means.

2. A shooting off tool for wire lines comprising a body, an opening therein for a wire line, means to move into said opening to grip the Wire line and hold it in said body, means to shear the wire line below the point of gripping of said line, and

. means movable to actuate both of said means, said last means including a charge of explosive and a plunger to be moved thereby.

3. A device of the character described comprising a body, means on said body to guide it in sliding movement along a flexible line, a pair of blades mounted to slide in said body to engage said flexible line, and means to actuate both of said blades.

4. A device of the character described comprising a body, means on said body to guide it in sliding movement along a flexible line, a pair of blades mounted to slide in said body to engage said flexible line, and means to actuate both of said blades one of said blades being formed to grip the line against the body to hold the body on said blades mounted to slide in said body to engage said flexible line, and means to actuate both of said blades one of said blades being formed to sever said line.

6. A device of the character described comprising a body, means on said body to guide it in sliding movement along a flexible line, a pair of blades mounted to slide in said body to engage said flexible line, and means to actuate both of said blades, one of said blades being formed to grip the line against the body to hold the body on said line and the other of said blades being formed to sever said line below the point being gripped by said first blade.

'7. A tool to sever wire lines in inaccessible locations comprising a body to slide along the line, a charge of explosive therein, means to discharge the explosive, a plunger to be moved by such explosion, line gripper movable by said plunger to latch the tool to the wire line, and a cutter also actuated by said plunger to sever the line after it is gripped by said gripper.

8. A tool to sever wire line including a body made up: of two parts, cooperating grooves in said parts to form a passage for the wire line, inclined slots in said parts extending to said passage, a line gripper in one slot, a line cutter in the other slot, and means movable to actuate said gripper and cutter so that the line will be gripped and cut and the tool removed with the wire line.

9. A wire line cutting tool including a body to be passed about the wire line and dropped to the elevation where the cut is to be made, means to grip the line, and means to cut the line after it has been gripped so that said tool may be carried by the wire line.

10. A wire line cutting tool including a body, an area to receive the wire line to be out, means on the other end of the body to guide said body along the line, a cutter, explosive means to actuate said cutter, said first means being movable to set off said explosive means when engaged by a device moving along the line.

11. A wire line cutting tool including a body, an area to receive the wire line to be cut, means on the other end of the body to guide said body along the line, a cutter, explosive means to actuate said cutter, said first means being movable to set off said explosive means, and additional means to afiix the tool to the wire line above the wire line after the cut.

MYRON ICENLEY. 

